Dow Chemical stockholders reject independent chair

Ernest Scheyder

2 IN. DI LETTURA

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co DOW.N shareholders declined to split the roles of chairman and chief executive at their annual meeting on Thursday, opting to keep the reins of the largest U.S. chemical maker closely held.

The proposal to split the roles, which, if approved, would have gone into effect after current Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris retired, received only 36 percent of votes cast.

The recent trend among corporate governance experts to recommend splicing the two roles has produced results among large banks, including Bank of America (BAC.N) and Citigroup (C.N), but industrial manufacturers, like DuPont DD.N and General Electric (GE.N) mostly have kept their CEO and chair roles combined.